Can cover



' o. 'J. TOFANELLI I cm COVER Filed Jan. 21, 1941 July 4, 1944.

. INVENTOR om JV? BY iluzlm ATTO R N EYS Patented July 4, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, I I 2,352,667 7 I CAN COVER. Olinto J. Tofanelli, Oakland, Calif., assignor to American Can Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 21, 1941, Serial No. 375,322

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to can covers of the friction plug variety and has particular reference to the conformation of the plugs to prevent nesting and adhering together when they are placed in stacked formation.

The invention contemplates the provision of a non-nesting friction plug cover which may be readily removed from a stack of similarly arranged or superimposed plug covers, as for example, in a magazine of a can closing machine or the like, wherein the lowermost cover may be easily separated for feeding purposes.

Heretofore, considerable difficulty has been experienced with friction plug cover while in stacked formation due to the contacting surfaces of annular drawn plugs nesting into each other thereby becoming wedged and stuck together. The instant invention eliminates the possibility of such plugs nesting and subsequently interlocking by limiting their adjoining surface engagement to a narrow annulus or line contact.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a friction plug cover having a peripheral bead formed near the upper edge. of an annular wall and extended inwardly so as to produce a support for an adjacent superimposed plug and which thereby prevents nesting, sticking or wedging together when such plug covers are arranged in stacked formation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of friction plug covers having a contour especially designed to present continuous peripheral line contact at the region of engagement with each other when they are placed into a stack so that the outer rounded peripheral corner of the plug rests upon an inwardly pressed circumferential bead formed at the upper edge of the annular wall of the plug, thereby allowing such an individual plug cover to be easily separated as during a can cover feeding operation.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent asit is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a friction plug cover embodying the instant invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken through a vertical plane and showing three of the plug covers such as shown in Fig. 1 arranged in a non-nesting stacked formation.

As a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is shown in the drawing a friction plug can cover I I having a centrally drawn depressed panel or main wall I2... The wall l2 merges into a rounded peripheral corner as at l3 and thence into a lateral or upstanding annular friction wall 14. This wall is of a suitable size to frictionally engage the standard openings in friction top containers so as to close and seal the same when filled.

The upper edge of the wall It is beaded inwardly as at [5 to produce an annular ledge or support for an adjacent superimposed plug. When a plurality of such plug covers are stacked (Fig. 2) the rounded corner 13 on the upper plug engages in continuous peripheral line contact with the bead [5 on the lower positioned plug. The lowermost plug in any stack may be supported on a table or by other suitable means so that it is always available for easy separation from the remainder.

The outer marginal edge adjoining the peripheral bead on the upper part of the wall It merges into an outwardly curved flange Hi. This flange terminates in a downwardly and inwardly extend- ,ing open curl edge or rim H. The rim of the flange l6 extends outwardly beyond the wall H of the plug to provide the usual ledge or overhang beneath which a prying instrument may be engaged in order to separate the instant type of plug cover from a closed container.

The curved flange l6 flared from and bordering the annular wall bead tends to direct a superimposed plug cover and locate it centrally as the next cover is positioned by dropping or otherwise feeding-it into a stacks The covers then assume the continuous peripheral line contact heretofore described which prevents any possibility of their becoming nested or wedged together.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A friction plug cover comprising a central panel having a. continuous rounded corner and an upstanding and substantially straight friction wall which merges into an inwardly, then upwardly and outwardly curved marginal wall part which terminates in a curled edge, said outwardly curved wall part reaching its maximum height outwardly of said friction wall and providing a support for the rounded corner of a similar plug cover to rest upon when said covers are stacked together.

2. A non-nesting friction plug cover comprising a central panel having a continuous rounded corner and an upstanding annular friction wall which merges into an upwardly and outwardly curved flange, said flange reaching its maximum height outwardly of said friction wall and tern1i-.

nating in a downwardly and inwardly curled edge, and an inwardly pressed bead in the annular wall merging smoothly into said flange, the continuous rounded corner of each similar cover when in stacked relation being engageable upon the outwardly curved flange of an adjacent cover in substantially line contact. p Y

3. A non-nesting friction plug cover comprising a central panel having a continuous rounded corner and an upstanding annular friction wall merging into an upwardly inwardly and thence outwardly continuously curved flange, said flange curving outwardly of said friction wall and terminating in a downwardly and inwardly curled edge, said inwardly and outwardly continuously curved flange constituting an inwardly pressed bead in the annular friction wall merging smoothly into the outwardly curved portion of said flange, the continuous rounded corner of each of a plurality of similar covers when arranged in stacked relation being engageable upon the outwardly curved flange of a subjacent cover in substantially line contact therewith.

OLINTO J. TOFANELLI. 

